For most web developers, programmers and bloggers taking screenshots is quite a common task. Sometimes you need the screenshot for your next post or article or just to send it to your tech help desk to troubleshoot a problem.

I have been using Snagit for several years and I really like the features it offers and its intuitive interface. Snagit is not a freeware, last I checked it costs about $50. But don’t worry there are quite a few alternatives to Snagit that offer similar features for free. Following are four free screen capturing software that I think are worthy substitutes for any commercial software in this category.

1. ZScreen:

   ZScreen is a free , open-source screen-capturing software for Windows operating system. The features I like most in ZScreen is the ability to upload capture images directly to some popular photo sharing websites.

   

   Features:

   • Multiple-monitor support
   • Support for uploading screenshots to Tinypic and Imageshack
   • Support for uploading to custom places (via HTTP)
   • Allows you to add Watermarks to your images.
   • Allows you to redo your last crop shot through a hotkey
   • Add Balloon tips, sounds, and ability to show cursor in screenshots
   • Upload images from the filesystem via Clipboard upload or Drag n Drop

   Download Zcreen.
   

2. Extensoft Screen Capturer

   Screen Capturer from Extensoft is another easy-to-use free program to grab the screenshot. In addition to images you can also capture animation using Screen Capturer.

   
   Features:

   • Allows you to capture full screen, current window, selected window, or a selected region
   • Support several formats including in BMP, JPG, GIF, PNG and TIFF formats
   • Saves captured animations in WMV format
   • Creates new email with captured image attached
   • Allows pasting captured images directly into email body
   • Easily and instantly accessible via [PrtScr] button

   Download Screen Capturer.

3. Jing:

   TechSmith, the makers of aforementioned Snagit, also offers a free screen capturing software Jing. Jing is not as feature-rich as some other screen capture programs but this is whole idea behind this software. It is an excellent program for a quick screen capture or to record a screencast.

   
   Features:
   

   • Available for Windows and Mac OS.
   • Click and capture. Capture by clicking Jing’s happy, always-ready “sun” icon…or pressing a hotkey of your choice. You can capture a window, pane, or region.
   • Add notes, arrows, highlights, etc to captured images.
   • Upload capture image to your Screencast.com or Flickr account with a single click.
   • You can customize upto eight buttons to upload your images to your favorite sharing destinations.
   • Allows you to copy and paste the screenshot right into an email, document, presentation. Of course, you can also save the images to your disk.

   Download Jing for Windows
   or for Mac

   • Lightscreen is an open source screen capturing software.

     Lightscreen is a simple tool to automate the tedious process of saving and cataloging screenshots, it operates as a hidden background process that is invoked with one (or multiple) hotkeys and then saves a screenshot file to disk according to the user’s preferences.

     Main Features:

     • Can execute at Windows startup (hidden or displaying the main window).
     • System tray icon for easy access.
     • 5 configurable actions, each with it’s own hotkey (screen, window, area, etc).
     • Multiple image formats (PNG, JPEG, etc) and image quality selector.
     • A notification when the screenshot is taken.
     • Screenshot delay.
     • Sound notifications
     • New “Open directory” hotkey
     • DirectX screenshots (experimental).

     Download Lightscreen.

Top four free programs to capture screenshot is a post from: zParacha.com | Effective programming and blogging tips by Zaheer Paracha

 

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One of the most popular file-sharing applications DropBox has a new and improved web interface. It now offers a new and improved navigation. They have also transformed their FAQ section into a comprehensive help center. I think the most important feature is the ability to drag and drop files and folders on the web interface.

Some of the improvements are

• Bulk operations Moving/deleting folders is now possible!
• Information/actions are now displayed in small sideboxes on the right
• Expanded footer with useful links.
• RSS feed for recent events!
• More information for file revisions

If you have been looking for a easy-to-use file sharing application take DropBox for a spin. I bet you will like it.

Enjoy.

DropBox rings in new year with sleek new web interface. is a post from: zParacha.com | Effective programming and blogging tips by Zaheer Paracha

 

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If you do a lot of repetitive typing, you may want to consider using PhraseExpress. This recently updated text-replacement application can save you a lot of key strokes.

PhraseExpress saves you countless keystrokes and expands custom abbreviations into frequently used text snippets. Typing ‘btw’ expands into ‘by the way’ or typing ‘excel’ can open your spreadsheet program in a snap.

Basically, you define small text snippets with full text once in the the application and then PhraseExpress expands them to full text every time you type the text snippet.

Some of the features include:

• Eliminate repetivite typing
• Predictive text auto-completion
• Spelling correction
• Mutli clipboard
• Email Signature Management

But PhraseExpress does more than just text replacement. Version 6.0 of PhraseExpress also offers

• HTML formatting
• Launching external applications
• Embedding autotext suggestions
• Time and date stamping
• Inserting Windows Environment variables
• Application-specific text replacement

You can install PhraseExpress or just run it off your thumb drive. It is free for personal use. For $49.95 you can acquire a commercial license.
Download PhraseExpress now and give your fingers and wrist some much needed break.
Enjoy!

Achieve more by typing less, use PhraseExpress. is a post from: zParacha.com | Effective programming and blogging tips by Zaheer Paracha

 

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ColorPix

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Thanks to Open source movement there are plenty of free software available for our day to day computing needs. Here is a partial list of my favorite software.

• Mozilla Firefox: Firefox is considered by many as the best web browser. Everyday hoards of people converting to Firefox. The features include Tabs, pop-up blocking, themes, and extensions. Download Firefox
• Mozilla Thunderbird: Another powerful software from Mozilla. This free email client has everything you need. To me it is better than Outlook. You can safely replace Outlook with Thunderbird. Download Thunderbird.
• GIMP: A solid image and photo editing software. A good alternative to Photoshop. Download GIMP.
• Paint.NET: Paint.NET is free image and photo editing software for computers that run Windows. It features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools. An active and growing online community provides friendly help, tutorials, and plugins.Download Paint.Net
• Inkscape: An Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw, or Xara X, using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format. Download Inkscape.
• FileZilla: FileZilla is a fast FTP and SFTP client for Windows with a lot of features. Download FileZilla.
• OpenOffice.org: OpenOffice.org is a multiplatform and multilingual office suite. Compatible with all other major office suites (including Microsoft Office), the product is free to download, use, and distribute. Download OpenOffice.org
• Notepad++: A much better text editor than Notepa. Features include tabbed interface, configurable syntax highlighting, syntax folding, line numbering, multi-view, bookmarks and regular expression search, brace and indent guideline highlighting and much more. Download Notepad++
• WinMerge: WinMerge is a visual text file differencing and merging tool. It is highly useful for comparing versions of projects, and then merging changes between versions. Download WinMerge.

Do you have a list of your own free software? Let’s hear from you.

Best free software is a post from: zParacha.com | Effective programming and blogging tips by Zaheer Paracha

 

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